Wednesday, 26 August 2015

Romance Review: Sustained by Emma Chase

Sustained

Emma Chase

Gallery Books

[August 25, 2015]

ARC provided by publicist

A knight in tarnished armor is still a knight.

When
you’re a defense attorney in Washington, DC, you see firsthand how hard
life can be, and that sometimes the only way to survive is to be
harder. I, Jake Becker, have a reputation for being cold, callous, and
intimidating—and that suits me just fine. In fact, it’s necessary when
I’m breaking down a witness on the stand.

Complications don’t
work for me—I’m a “need-to-know” type of man. If you’re my client, tell
me the basic facts. If you’re my date, stick to what will turn you on.
I’m not a therapist or Prince Charming—and I don’t pretend to be.

Then
Chelsea McQuaid and her six orphaned nieces and nephews came along and
complicated the ever-loving hell out of my life. Now I'm going to Mommy
& Me classes, One Direction concerts, the emergency room, and
arguing cases in the principal's office.

Chelsea’s too sweet, too
innocent, and too gorgeous for her own good. She tries to be tough, but
she’s not. She needs someone to help her, defend her…and the kids.

And that — that, I know how to do.

It seems like everyone loves Emma Chase. Literally, everyone. I've heard raves about her for years from all over the board. So, when I was offered a copy to review, I couldn't turn it down. But I was really unimpressed.The first few chapters were just so stereotypical. The entire story is told from Jake's perspective and he was basically a mash up of every douche bag player trope you can imagine. Every chapter oozed arrogant asshole. I was so annoyed, I nearly put it down.But then Chelsea came into the picture. Chelsea was funny and smart and an aunt and guardian to six kids. I loved Chelsea and how well she took this on. If this book had been told from her perspective, I would've LOVED it so much. Chelsea was different and I love romances that involve kids and how that dynamic plays in. But Jake was such a cookie cutout of dick-romance-characters, I had a hard time dealing with it. Chelsea deserved better. This book deserved better.The writing was just okay. I think my big issue was that it fell back on a lot of cliches and stereotypes, so it was nothing special. It felt like she's taken from a bunch of other romances and pasted it in. It felt like...fanfic. Unedited fanfic from a slightly better than average writer. Again, I was bored and rarely felt totally sucked in.Basically, this book was average. I was very meh on it and probably wouldn't have finished it if it wasn't a quick, easy read. The only bright spot in this book was Chelsea, really. Otherwise, it was predictable and the perspective it was told from was irritating because Jake was the worst. I'm in the minority on this, since I know a lot of people who LOVED it, but I barely finished it.--Julie